Pneumatic control for batteries op automatic presses



p 13. 1921- c, MCDONALD PNEUMATIC CONTROL FOR BATTERIES OF AUTOMATIC PRESSES Filed Jan. 24, 1927 2 Sheets$heet 1 jab/@1150??? (/z ZJJJ/ and z 0yw O Se t'. 13 1927.

p c. D. M DONALD PNEUMATIC CONTROL FOR BATTERIES 0F AUTOMATIC PRESSES Filed Jan. 24. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fahd/40 Patented Sept. 13, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES D. McDONALD, or CHICA C, ILLINOIS, AssIeNo'It T MCDONALD MACHINE co., or CHICAGO, I LINoIs, A CORPORATION or ILLINoIs.

PNEUMATIC CONTROL FOR BATTERIES 0F AU'IbMA'lIC PRESSES.

Application filed January 24, 1927. Serial No. 163,114.

This invention relates to pneumatic control for a battery Jot automatic presses and its principal object is to provide improved means whereby any one or all of the presses of a battery or group of presses, may be stopped by an attendant stationed at any one of the presses. In many situations one attendant has charge of several automatic die presses and although they may be located quite close together still situations may arise where it becomes exceedingly important for the attendant to stop one of. the presses immediately and before the attendant would have time to reach the press, which it was necessary to stop. In accordance with the present invention I have provided pneumatic press stopping mechanism for eachv press, having a line of pipe running from each press stopping mechanism to the several presses and thereat provided with valves located in convenient position at the presses, whereby the attendant may stop any press by operatingithe valve for that press.

In accordancewith its preferred arrange ment, a vacuum system is employed, but this is not essential, inasmuch as compressed air may be used as an alternative form for obtaining the same results.

The invention consists in selective, pneumatic, press stopping means, embodying individual pneumatic press stopping mechanism for each press having" a pipe line running to the several presses and thereat furnished with a valve, whereby any selected press stopping mechanism may be actuated from any press. The invention further consists in the several novel features hereinafter more fully set forth and more particularly defined in the appended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated in'the drawings accompanying this specification, in which:

Fig. 1 is' a diagrammatic view, illustrating thepneumatic press stopping mechanisms of a battery or group of presses. and illustrating a simple arrangement of the present invention applied thereto; Fig. 2-is a diagrammatic 'view,'in sideelevation, of an automatic die press stripped of much of its mechanism and showing the individual press sto ping mechanism with the aSSOCiated air ine of the pneumatic control and Fig, 5 i 8. detail, vertical cross section when where the sheet is punched or otherwise operated uponby the punches, or other die mechanlsm of the press. Usually a vacuum system is employed in connection with die presses of this type for handling the strips of material and inserting them into the feed way of thepress mechanism and such vacuum system has been employed for automaticallyv stopping the pressin case of an emergency, as for instance if an abnormal condition arises in the feed way. Such automatic press stopping mechanism is fully shown and described in my co-pending application for patent on automatic die presses, filed January 20, 1926,'Serial No. 82,395, and the emergency press stopping mechanism disclosed in said application has been chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention. Briefly the emergency press stopping mechanism illustrated, comprises a rod 73, which is continuously reciprocated (while the press is in opera tion) by a cam 74 on the crank shaft 9 of the press, which cam engages with a bell crank lever75 fulcrumed upon the-press body, and connected to the reciprocating rod 73. A shoulder 80 is provided on one end of said rod. which under normal conditions is ineffective or inac tive, but which is arranged to move a clutch and brake actuating arm 70 and thereby stop the press whenever an abnormal condition arises in the feed way of the press, or whenever it is desired to intentionally stop the press by means of the control means forming the subject matter of this specification. In the formof'the emergency press stopping mechanism illustrated the arm 70 is fast upon one end of a rock shaft 71 to which the hand lever 72, for starting and stopping the press, is secured. Said hand lever is connected to the clutch, and brakemechanism'QO, 91 by a link 92, cross head 93 and links 94, 95 as in the co-p'eiiding application above re to; in the drawing, said head lever is illustrated. in the pesitiefi sampled to the free end of the arm 70, a movable arm or other connecting medium 83 provided in the block 78, and pneumatic means for actuating'the arm 83. Said arm normally lies out of the path of movement taken by the shoulde 80, whereby said shoulder 80 may reciprocate idly so long as the press operations are proceeding properly, but which connecting medium 83 may be moved into the path of movement of said shoulder 80, whereupon said shoulder 80 engages the connecting medium 88.. thereby moving upward tlie block'78, and therewith the arm 70, and thereby turning: the rock shaft 71, and swinging down the hand lever 72, and consequently operating the clutch and brake mechanism to release the clutch and stop the press. The arm or connecting medium 83 is pneumatically operated, and as shown has a laterally extending arm 87, which is connected to a plunger 85 contained 1n a cylinder 84, which is formed in the block 78, and said cylinder is connected by a su1t able valve controlled pipe line with a pneumatic pump whereby when the valve manipulated, the plunger 85 is IIlOVQCl'Hl the cylinder 84 by a change of pressure therein, and the arm or connecting medium 83 is thereby brought into position for engagement with the shoulder 80 ot the reciprocating rod 73. A coiled spring around. the stem of the plunger 85 serves to return the plunger and arm 83 into normal position when the normal pressure has been restored in the cylinder 84. The exact form and construction of emergency press stopping mechanism described is not material to this invention broadly considered, but has been chosen for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it being understood that it is capable of modification and substitution of equivalent mechanism for actuating); the clutch and brake mechanism to stop the operation ofthe' press.

'Referring now to Fig; 1, the emergency press stopping mechanisms of several automatic die presses are shown at 96, 96 and 96 The presses equipped with these emergency press stopping mechanisms are spaced aparta suitable distance to leave ample room between them, and at some convenient place on each press or adjacent each press is placed a small header 10, 10*, 10", which forms part of an air line of conduit leading from a source to the several emergency press stopping mechanisms. hen a vacuum system is employed for actuating the emergency press stopping mechanism, a vacuum tank 11 may be employed, which is connected to the vacuum pump (not shown) by a pipe 12 and from said vacuum tank 11 leads a main air pipe or conduit 13 from which lead main branches 14, 1 1 1 1*, which run to the several presses of the battery, and have branches 15, 15 15", which supply the necessary low pressure for actuating the pneumatic strip lifting mechanism. From the branches 14, 1 1, 1 1", branch pipes 16, 16 16" may run to the automatic emergency press stopping mechanism, or other pneumatic mechanism used in connection with the presses. The main branch pipes 14, 14?, 14*, run to the respective headers 10, 10 10*, and from each header leads pipe lines 17, 17 17*, that run to the several emergency press stopping mechanisms. Control valves 18, 18 18, are interposed in tl e pipe lines 17, 17", 17 between the headers 10, 10 10", and emergency press stopping mechanism and for convenience said con trol valves are placed at or adjacent to the headers 10, 10, 10"; Each line of pipe 17, 17 17", leads from its associated valve 18. 18, or 18, to the emergency press stoppin mechanism 96, 96 96 for the associated press, and the pipe line from each emergency press stopping mechanism is connected by pipes and branches to a control valve at each station. For instance the pipe 17 leads from the valve 18 of the press at the left, viewed in Fig. 1, and leads directly to the press stoppingmechanism 96 of that press, and its pipe 17 connects with the pipe lines 17 of the other valves 18 of the other two presses. The lines of pipe from the valves 18 18", of the other two presses are similarly connected. It, therefore, the valve at any station fora given press is opened, connection is established between the source of vacuum or air pressure, and the selected press stopping mechanism;

The automatic emergency mechanism for stopping any press, operates independently of the manual control, and the operation of said mechanism should be free from any lag. For this reason check valves, 19, 19 19 are placed on the pipes 17, 17, 17, close to the press stopping mechanisms 96, 96, 96*. The pipes 16, 16 16*, from the automatic emergency press stopping mech an-ism, are connected to the pipes 17, 17 17*, between said check valves and said mechanisms 96, 96 96". The check valves open away from said mechanisms 96, 96 96*, whereby when any of said mechanism is made active by the automatic emergency press stopping mechanism, the pump is not required to exhaust the air in the pipes 17 17 or 17*. For this reason the effect of iii the vacuum on the press stopping mechanisms 96, 96, 96 is much quicker than if it were necessary to exhaust the pipe 17, 17, or 17*, which is connected to the press stopping mechanism which was actuated In the operation of the system and assuming that a vacuum system is employed, the air is exhausted in the vacuum tank 11 and a partial vacuum is created in the line of pipe 13, main branches 14, 14 14", and headers 10, 10 10 up to the control valves 18 18 18 The attendant being stationed at any of the presses and wishing to stop any one of the presses, he opens the valve controlling the press stopping mechanism for that press thereby permitting the vacuum to extend to the cylinder 84 of that press stopping mechanism, whereby the air is exhausted from said cylinder, the plunger 85 thereof moved downward, the arm 83 swung into the path of the shoulder 80 ot' the continuously reciprocating rod 73, whereupon said shoulder engages said arm 83, moves upward the block 78 and therewith the arm 70, which turns the rock shaft 71, thereby swinging down the hand lever 72, actuating the clutch and brake mechanism, and stopping the press. As soon as the valve is closed, air enters the cylinder 84: through an air vent,

thereby permitting the arm 83 to resume its normal position out of engagement with the shoulder 80, whereupon the press may be started at any time by raising the hand lever 72. If the attendent desires to stop all presses at once he opens all of the valves at one station, and for convenience in opening them all at once they may be in the form of press buttonv valves placed close enough, so that the stems thereof may be simultaneously depressed with one hand.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible without departing from the spirit of this invention; I desire, therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of the construction shown and described, but intend, in the following claims, to point out all of the invention disclosed herein.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. Selective stopping means for individual presses of a battery of automatic die presses, comprising individual, pneumatically operated, press stopping mechanism for each press, a main air line leading to each press, a valve controlled group of branch air lines leading from eaehmain air line, one branch line of each group leading to the press stopping mechanism of the press associated with the main air line or said group, and the other branch air lines of said group leading, respectively, to the press stopping mechanisms of the other iresses of the battery.

2. Selective stopping means for individual presses of a battery of automatic die presses, comprising individual, pneumatically operated press stopping mechanism for each press, a main air line leading to each press, a group of branch air lines leading from each main air line at a place adjacent each press, an air valve on each branch air line, the air valves being located adjacent the presses, one branch air line of each group leading to the press stopping mechanism 01": the press associated with the main air line of the group, and the other branch air lines of the group leading, respectively, to the other presses of the battery.

3. Selective stopping means for individual presses of a battery of automatic die presses, comprising individual, pneumatically operated press stopping mechanism for each press, a source of low pressure air supply, a main air pipe for each press connecte" with said source, and having a header thereon at'each press, a valve controlled group oi air lines leading from said header, one branch air line of each group leadin to the press stopping mechanism of the press associated with said group, and the other branch air lines of said group hauling, respectively, to the other presses oi the battery.

l. Selective stopping means for individual presses of a battery of automatic die presses, comprising individual, pneumatically controlled press stopping mechanism for each press, and an air pipe leading to each press and thereat terminating in a group of valve controlled air pipes, there being an air pipe leading from each press stopping mechanism to one valve of each group of branch air pipes.

5. Selective stopping means for individ ual presses of a battery of automatic die presses, comprising individual, pneumatically controlled press stopping mechanism for each press, and an air pipe leading to each press and thereatterminating in a group of valve controlled air pipes, there being an air pipe leading from each press stopping mechanism, and having branches leading to one valve of each group of branch air pipes.

CHARLES D. MoDONALD. 

